CALGARY — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is set to hold a news conference today about her referendum question on separation, which separatist leaders are dismissing as “spineless” and ineffective.

Smith, in a televised address Thursday, announced Albertans would vote in an Oct. 19 referendum on separation.

However, they won’t directly vote on whether Alberta should leave Canada.

They will be asked if the province should later hold a binding referendum to separate.

Jeff Rath, the lawyer for Stay Free Alberta, the group that collected signatures to try to force a separation referendum, called the move an insult to those seeking independence.

Cam Davies, leader of the pro-independence Republican Party of Alberta, agreed and called Smith’s referendum question “spineless.”

Smith said her plan is the best way for Albertans, particularly those unhappy with the federal government, to make their voices heard.

She also said she’ll be voting for Alberta to stay in Confederation.

The referendum question is to read: “Should Alberta remain a province of Canada or should the government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?”

It becomes the 10th question on the Oct. 19 referendum. The other questions, announced in February, ask about immigration reform and constitutional concerns.

Separatists in Alberta had been pinning their hopes on Smith putting a separation question straight on the ballot since last week, when a judge halted their independence petition drive because First Nations had not been duly consulted.

Smith promised to appeal the judge’s ruling all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada if necessary.

“But this process will take many months and possibly years before being addressed by those higher courts,” she said in her address.

“In the meantime, under our legal system, this troubling court decision is binding law in Alberta until it is successfully appealed.”

“This means that it is unlikely the courts will permit Elections Alberta to hold a binding provincial referendum on separation until this incorrect ruling is overturned or clarified.”

Lori Williams, a political scientist at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said the referendum question won’t satisfy angry hardliners in Smith’s United Conservative Party.

“This was meant to be a release valve, something that would settle the matter,” said Williams. “We’re seeing quite the opposite.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 22, 2026.

The Canadian Press